rose ashes

After that day, Luo Yang started to act a little strange. She started to not care about anything and stopped competing with others. Except that her grades were still at the top as always, she no longer liked to participate in activities. Instead, she participated in competitions crazily, as if if she stopped for a moment, she would lose the motivation to keep going.

Luo Ke began to become what Luo Yang once was, becoming a host, trying to be the focus of everyone's attention. She succeeded, but Luo Yang didn't care.

At the end of the final exams, the school decided to organize a camping activity. Luo Yang didn't want to participate, but Guangmingding said that time goes by quickly in high school and hoped that everyone could cherish the time they spent together, try their best to overcome their own difficulties and participate in group activities.

Luo Yang hesitated, looked at the laughing faces of everyone in the class, sighed, and signed up.

The school chose a relatively far place for a camping trip, so Luo Yang traveled light and only packed a small bag before getting on the bus.
On the bus, Luo Yang kept wearing headphones and didn't speak. Ye Gu occasionally lowered his eyes to look at her, but he could only see her long and curly eyelashes, which were fixed on the window.

Although she still talked and chatted with him, and still argued with him, Ye Gu clearly felt that something had changed, but she couldn't tell what it was.

It was already dusk when we arrived at the destination. The teachers of each class led the students to have a simple dinner at the restaurant that had been booked in the morning. After the long journey, everyone was exhausted both physically and mentally, so they went upstairs with the assigned room cards.

Luo Yang was assigned to the same room with the girl at the table in front of her. The girl looked very sleepy and fell asleep in a daze after taking a shower, leaving Luo Yang alone awake, his mind wandering in the darkness.

In order to train them tomorrow, several classes of students are arranged to have an outdoor picnic together. All the ingredients and fire-making need to be done by the students themselves. When they heard the notice, everyone wailed, but Luo Yang did not express any emotion. He was as calm as usual when he received a notice.

At five o'clock in the morning, when it was almost dawn, Xi Jinzhou, who was sleeping soundly, was awakened by a loud noise around him.

Ye Gu looked at him with a serious expression and said, "What if she is afraid of insects?"

Xi Jinzhou had just come out of his dream and was still in a state of confusion. He pushed his hand away and said with a sigh, "Do you really have to wake me up and ask me such a speechless question..."

Ye Gu did not give up and insisted on getting an answer from him.
Xi Jinzhou rolled his eyes helplessly, and sat up from the bed with his sleepy body.
"She didn't say anything, why are you worrying so much? You care too much, Ye Gu."

"I don't care what happens. She's obviously not in good shape recently. Can't you see that?"

Xi Jinzhou stroked his hair and said, "I see, so what? What do you think you can do? At least you can't do anything right now."
He always hits the nail on the head, leaving Ye Gu speechless, but he still stared into his eyes stubbornly.
At daybreak, Ye Gu walked to the window, looking at the approaching daylight in silence.

Yes, Xi Jinzhou was right. He really couldn't do anything now, but he couldn't just do nothing.

When the groups were divided in the afternoon, Luo Yang and several other girls were assigned to a group to go to the mountain to collect dry firewood for starting a fire.

Luo Yang seldom spoke, but would occasionally join in their conversation. However, she did not like to deliberately join in, so she simply listened and said a few words when they called on her. The rest of the time, she was earnestly looking for dry firewood that could be used.

The long silence around him made Luo Yang realize something was wrong. He stood up and looked around, only to find that they had disappeared. It was probably only a minute. Luo Yang was not nervous at all and continued to look for firewood.

The dusk in the mountains seems to come especially quickly, as if every second of night is a preference for day.

Luo Yang sat alone in front of an abandoned house, with a pile of dry firewood at his feet. From time to time, he could even hear the sound of birds chirping around him, the sound was ethereal, distant, and echoing.

Luo Yang just watched the last bit of light being swallowed up bit by bit from the boundary line. She sat with her arms folded, as if everything around her had nothing to do with her, as if she was detached from the surrounding environment.

When night fell, she began to hear the faint sound of wolves howling, and she realized that she was getting goose bumps, but she only quickened the pace of stroking her arms and had no intention of asking for help or looking for anyone.

I don't know how long I have been sitting here alone, with several insect bites on my hands, and a faint light that is shaking violently and appears in the distance, and a lonely voice is shouting something.

Luo Yang wanted to stand up but suddenly his eyes blurred and he was about to fall to the ground, but was stopped by a strong arm and pulled back.

"Why didn't you call for help?! Why didn't you look for someone?! Do you know that I almost went crazy?"

A series of emotional roars allowed Luo Yang to see clearly the face of the person in front of her, a familiar heroic face, and the teardrop mole under the eyes that could not be ignored. She always felt that it was like a star accompanying the moon, and there was only one of it.

Luo Yang was a little caught off guard when she saw Ye Gu getting so angry for the first time. She stammered and couldn't explain clearly.

"You clearly know that you have a terrible sense of direction. To put it bluntly, you are a person with poor sense of direction! Why don't you just refuse this division of labor? What on earth are you thinking about!"

The moment before Ye Gu saw her, his heart was in suspense, not knowing when he would be pushed to the trial stand to be executed. Until suddenly he saw the figure sitting in front of the room, he felt overly awake as if he had been hit hard on the back of the head.

Looking at the person who was lost and found again, Ye Gu strongly suppressed the deep fear in his heart. He tried his best to make his tone sound steady and not trembling.
He asked her, "Why didn't you call for help?" Luo Yang patted his shoulder casually, "In this deserted place with no water, no one would hear you even if you screamed at the top of your lungs." She paused, fearing that her excessive indifference would scare Ye Gu, and added, "Besides, you would eventually find out that I'm missing, right?"

Ye Gu looked at her eyes which could still smile, his heart was shaken, as if a tsunami was about to start, but no one knew about it.
He suddenly hugged her into his arms, tightly, without letting go even an inch.

Ye Gu's broad shoulders and narrow waist were already well developed, and he completely wrapped Luo Yang around him, not allowing him to break free. Luo Yang was a little stunned, and gently patted his back, as if to comfort him: "It's okay, you found me, what are you afraid of?"

Ye Gu let go of her and turned his face away, still saying harshly: "I'm afraid that if you're not here, there will be no one to cover for me when I go out to play, is that not okay?"

Luo Yang didn't know whether to laugh or cry, "Okay, okay, there will still be someone to cover for you in the future, so don't be nervous."

/ / /
Because Luo Yang accidentally got lost during the camping trip, Ye Gu would question Luo Yang about everything he did, even confirming several times before going to the toilet.

Others laughed at him for making a big deal out of nothing, but only Ye Gu knew that what Luo Yang said that day, "You will eventually find that I am missing," meant a lot to him.
He secretly made up his mind that no matter where Luo Yang was in the future, he would find her. Even if he couldn't find her, he would wait until the day she appeared.

At this time, Ye Gu didn't know that his words would come true.

The first group activity came to an end and winter vacation arrived as scheduled. When school was over, Luo Yang was packing up, but saw Ye Gu sitting there motionless, as if he was thinking about some profound life problems, with deep and distant eyes.

"What's wrong with you?" Luo Yang zipped up her schoolbag and tilted her head to look into Ye Gu's eyes.

Ye Gu didn't let her leave. He pushed her back to her seat with a solemn expression.

Luo Yang's mouth twitched slightly, "You look like a middle-aged boss with a beer belly showing off his seniority."

Ye Gu pretended not to hear and asked, "Can you not disappear during this winter vacation?"

Luo Yang was stunned, and his heart skipped a beat when he thought of the summer vacation after the high school entrance examination.
Her eyelashes trembled slightly, and she swallowed silently. Being stared at by Ye Gu with such burning eyes for a long time, most people would find it difficult to withstand it. She surrendered, "I know, I will stay at my grandmother's house during the summer vacation, and I won't go anywhere."

Ye Gu seemed to be confirming the truth of what he said. He stared into her eyes for a long time, as if he wanted to see through her. Luo Yang couldn't resist and stretched out her palm to block his sight.
"I promise, I will definitely be there if you come to see me. I won't lie to you, okay?"

Ye Gu then gave up and simply took out a few books and homework, stuffed them into his bag, and slung it over one shoulder.
"Okay, then wait for me to find you."

Luo Yang had a headache. Her grandparents had always liked Ye Gu since she was a child. It could even be said that they liked Ye Gu as much as her, their biological granddaughter.

Originally, she was only going to stay at her grandmother's house for a short period of time, but now it seems that she can't live there permanently. However, on second thought, this is also a good thing, as it is a legitimate reason for her to not live at home, and it can also effectively avoid unnecessary quarrels with Luo Jiancheng.

But Luo Yang probably didn't expect that on New Year's Eve, Ye Gu would knock on her door with a lot of bags.

At that time, she was learning how to knead dough with the chef at home. There were streaks of flour on her face, making her look like a little cat. In her hand, she was holding a chicken leg that her grandmother had just fried and had just taken a bite.

Ye Gu looked at Luo Yang who opened the door. They looked at each other and paused for a full minute.
Ye Gu even stepped back to look at the house number, muttering to himself: "I'm not in the wrong place, it's number 100. When did my grandma get a cat?"

Finally, he looked at Luo Yang and added very concisely: "Well... he's still a greedy little cat."

Luo Yang instantly became furious, his eyes widened with anger, and he chased after Ye Gu and was about to hit him: "Who are you talking about?! Stop right there!"

Ye Gu ran lightly, and Luo Yang still couldn't catch up. While running, he kindly reminded: "Little fairy won't run around the yard holding a chicken leg~"

"You! If I don't kick you out today, you are my father!"
This guy is really like a wretch who will tear down the roof if he is not punished for three days.

Ye Gu enjoyed it, but when he saw someone suddenly appear in front of him, he braked and stopped. Luo Yang didn't notice the gesture behind him and was still saying fiercely: "Call me daddy!"

Ye Gu closed his eyes in grief, counting silently in his heart -
one two Three……

"Luo Yang, go stand in the yard as punishment! How can this be a disgrace to a girl like you!"
A voice as loud as a bell exploded in his ears. Luo Yang took a breath and looked at the strong old man in front of him.

(End of this chapter)